Disclaimer: I'm not an authority on much of anything, but there has been much discussion in the past about the topic of "Cross Dominance" vision and how it affects trapshooting. It has been stated that most women and a good percentage of men experience this problem. Many methods have been suggested to remedy this problem ie.: Magic dots on non dominate eye, sight hider on front of rib, a Keen sight, and just plain old black electrical tape.

A friend and I had a discussion that went something like this with me saying, "people who use their front bead for target acquisition are more prone to miss the target by cross dominance than shooters who only look at the target with both eyes(never seeing the beads/barrel when they shoot) and only see the beads when they first mount the gun to check if the mount is correct." My reasoning to him was that when watching a squad shoot targets, you see the targets perfectly and never switch eye dominance especially at a 40 or 50 yard distance and your depth perception makes your judgment right on. Also your eyes are approximately 4" apart therefore when looking at a distant object at say 50 yards there is very little change of the objects position in space no matter which eye sees it! He said I was totally way off base, I don't think so. Biff

Cross dominance occurs when focus changes from the dominant eye to the non dominant eye. A person can be 100% focused on the target and miss due to dominace shifting. Perhaps rather than calling it cross dominance a better description would be dominace shifting. It is totally unconscious and instantanious, hardly a myth. Your friend is absolutely right.

Biff, mount your gun. Now note that you should be looking down the rib. Assuming you shoot right handed, with the gun still mounted close your right eye. You will now be seeing what happens when cross dominance occurs. Now go run a 100 following the described method, be sure to keep the right eye closed.

Unfortunately it is not possible for us to see through someone else's eyes so understanding how cross dominant vision occurs is difficult.

But what is obvious is that people miss their target by at least a yard when the non-dominant eye takes over. You can do some simple trig to convince yourself of how the error can be that great but basically what you have is two separate lines of sight which are not parallel. And that is where Biff's logic breaks down.

Bottom line, cross dominant vision is not mythical, it is all too common. It is a very nasty handicap in this game of trapshooting and those that are prone to it have to work a lot harder to improve their game.

I agree with Neil and Pat that cross dominance is not a myth. I watched Phil Kiner's DVD on the subject of cross-firing at least 4 times. He made one statement that just blew me away: "The problem is Not that the left eye sees the bead, the problem is that the left eye Locks on the Bird". Phil Kiner has proof on his video camera that occasional Crossfiring does happen. A person can crossfire even though they mount the gun on the same shoulder as their supposedly Dominate eye.

Don't everyone jump on the band wagon just because Neil, Pat, and Ed say so, you need to start thinking for your self. You have two eyes that work together as binocular vision.....they both converge to the same place at the same time pinpointing the exact spot, cause if they didn't you would possibly see two images of the same thing(especially at about 40 yards). People who cover the nondominate eye so it can't take over and are trying to fool the brain into thinking they are shooting with two eyes, all that does is to make you a one eyed shooter and if it is a darkend patch, it will cause the pupil of the uncovered eye to dilate as if it were in lower light.

What I was referring to if you reread my post was "if you use the beads for target acquisition, you are more likely to experience cross dominance" more likely than if you use no beads/barrel shooting the target. Maybe those shooters are just bead checking and NOT experiencing cross dominance. I'm just speculating on this as a theory. Biff

Distance is the key If your weaker eye is over the rib the more distance the target has from your eye the weaker eye lets the stronger eye take over . I have never had this problem (thank God) but I know shooters that do .

Hey Biff, Here's the trig you missed. If you eyes are 4 inches apart (you have a big head) and your bead is 36 inches from your eye. You hit the target with proper eye bead and bird alignment. Changing the eye to bead to bird relationship on a bird that is 40 yards away, you are now aiming (right to left eye change) 160 inches to the right. If you "left eye" the bird with the bead on it you will shoot 160 inches to the left of it. With three inch eye spacing you will only shoot it front 120 inches (that's 10 feet). You will need a very open choke to score a hit. I have a different problem. I can point with either eye. For many years I used the right eye in the morning and the left eye in the afternoon (for pointing a 32 or 40 powered theodolite scope). I always use both eyes open for the gun and the scope. I have trained myself to use either eye. With practice, I guess, anyone could do the same. Problem is who is willing to practice for the year or so it would take to change eyes?